Supplementing Spiders
Author: robert | Posted: 24.07.2008 | Views: 51
We, as webmasters or website owners, are always looking for waysto supplement the search engine spiders. I call it'supplementing spiders'.
What we are trying to do is encourage these 'spiders' to comefeed on the keywords and 'content' of our websites, in hopes ofgetting a higher positioning in the search page ranking. It islike trying to put your head above the crowd and be noticed.
The experiment began with a new site that has been online alittle more than a month [from the time of this writing]. Whatwas decided was to create the best atmosphere for attractingGooglebot. A plan would be needed to attract Google and save thetime, effort and outlay of cash for a Yahoo! listing. Google wasalso needed to build a page rank. Starting from zero we had tohave a game plan.
The conclusion was reached that the time spent now would pay offten-fold down the road. The new site is a free cross contentarticle directory for websites, ezines and a learning portal.Keyword search was preformed on every search term imaginable.Every site that could be found that remotely related to articlesand article directories was reviewed. Some of these sites wereexclusive to articles while some only had a directory ofarticles on site in a subdirectory. What they had in common wasthat all had a front page or top 10 ranking in Google and/orYahoo! for 'articles'. Note: there were also 417,000,000 othersites listed for "articles" that were indexed that have neverseen the fringes of the front page much less the top 100. Withthat goal set, our task lay before us. The plan follows: 1.] Adecision made on the look and feel of the site. This isimportant not for the spiders [Google & Yahoo!] but for thesite's future visitors. Reason? What good is it to have a sitethat no one will come back to because it is unpleasant orbecause of visual or navigation problems. The robots.txt filewas set up so that it would invite the spiders to crawl amongthe selected pages and directories of the site.
2.] The index page was designed making sure it had an accessiblenavigation plan based on the suggestions of
3.] A Site Map was created and linked from the front page thatprovided the visitor and spiders with a road map of the site.Using
4.] Next we brought together a collection of articles andcontent that would provide a rich array of information for bothspider and visitor. This was accomplished by adding articlespersonally written and some hand selected content to fit thesite's topics and categories. These included a wide variety ofsubjects like short stories, tutorials on uses of herbs to R.S.Sand how to use email.
5.] A thorough check of all links was done checking for "title"tags. Links not working were replaced or repaired. Images werechecked for appropriate "alt" description tags and made sure allwere described in a manner that best suited them using keywordswhere possible.
6.] Knowing the site was relatively new, articles were submittedto other directories with links back to the site. We alsoblogged the site and pinged the post and trackback URL and leftlinks where possible to lead back to the site.
7.] Once everything had received one last thorough check, wetook a break and then waited for Googlebot to call. We startedto watch the server logs for our visitor.
8.] It only took a few days before the first index. We began tocheck the search terms that had been targeted and a few dayslater began to see the site in the search results. Checked withYahoo! and there was no mention. Back to work we went. Polishedand reworked the keywords that were targeted and tweaked thedescription. Made another trip around various articledirectories and submitted another article with links back to thesite and again blogged the site and pinged the post andtrackback URL's from it. We were re-indexed within a few days.This time as we check for search terms we began to see more ofthe site's content and URL's appearing in the search results.Only this time it was not just one or two, but several differentarticles that had been placed as content in the categories andtopics of the sites.
9.] Googlebot has been fairly regular for the past two weekswith re-index approximately every three days. After each visitthe keyword and search terms are checked in the search resultsto see where we stand in the listing. Also checked are theserver logs for specific keywords searched and evaluation of thetraffic. We then go back to the site, tweak it, and get readyfor another visit.
10.] This is only the beginning. This little exercise willcontinue even after reaching the goal. A routine has beenestablished that includes periodically checking the server logsfor the always, welcomed visitor. Making the adjustments wherethey are needed and preparing thewebbpage.com for another index.
The site is not listed No.1 with all of the keywords or searchterms but thewebbpage.com is appearing on the first page formany. It is rewarding to know that without a single searchengine submission, a brand new website can be indexed within afew weeks of launch, raise it's head above the crowd and benoticed. A site that now has the potential to make it.
Supplementing the spiders was, is, and will be well worth theeffort. It has been an interesting exercise requiring, in thegrand scheme, very little research and time. The best news isthe same search terms that are showing up with Google searchresults are now appearing in Yahoo! results. Now that is what Icall 'Supplementing Spiders'. The spider even picked up the tabfor the Yahoo!'s inclusion.
Rate this article:
Total Vote: 0, Rating: 0/5
Print | 
Send | 
Publish | 
Feedback Author
Judy Webb is editor and Webmaster of www.thewebbpage.com. She isthe author of several articles relating to Internet marketingand promotion. She can be contacted at here. This article canbe reprinted or published as long as this resource box remainsattached.
Comments (0)
Post a Comment
Search
Categories
Articles
Directory © Copyright 2005-2008Powered by Article Submission & Open Web Directory
Terms of Service - Privacy Policy - Editorial Guideline - Contact